Edition Announcement #48 - Brandon Herman

Wednesday Edition: Brandon Herman

Drizzly Wednesday greetings, collector friends. I'm in a mad dash to get myself ready for a trip to the Lone Star state, so I'm going to keep today's newsletter short and sweet. (And a sigh of relief is heard across cyberspace...)

Today's edition, an untitled photograph, comes to us from fun-loving, portrait taking superstar Brandon Herman.

I've loved this photo since I first exhibited at the gallery several years ago as part of a Hey, Hot Shot! exhibition. It combines some of the essential elements that define Brandon's work (beautiful but not conventional people, lots of skin, bright but not harsh lighting) with some of the essential elements that attract me to a photo of any kind (beautiful but not conventional, classical references, greenery.)

Brandon's work is a fresh mix of contemporary memes. There's often a kind of Ryan McGinley vibe - sometimes it seems like you're looking at a slice of Brandon's young, beautiful life and its gorgeous, quirky cast of characters. There's also a lot of staged and outlandish narrative work that reminds me of Gregory Crewdson in its more sober moments, but when the fellas get together and go a little crazy, there's a distinct similarity to some of Anthony Goicolea's images.

Being the model of a modern media maker, Brandon doesn't limit himself to a single medium. He is doing some hilarious video work which draws on the B-movie star populated environs of his Hollywood home and he's also dabbling in some installation and sculpture too.

You can see all of this with your own eyes if you find yourself in NYC any time soon. Brandon's solo show My Vacation with a Kidnapper opens this Friday at Envoy Gallery, a very close downtown neighbor of my gallery's Spring St. digs.

I'm going to miss the festivities since I'll in Austin by then, at South by Southwest. If you happen to be there, come check out the panel I'm on, which happens on Sunday @ 5pm.

Otherwise, I'll be back in your Inbox on Tuesday with a fresh batch of 20x200 art, hot off the presses. See you then!

Previous Newsletter : Edition Announcement #47 - Echo Eggebrecht